Why is it the right time to invest in AI, in India? — A look back Analysis in India.
When the term Artificial Intelligence was first coined by John McCarthy in 1956 defined it as,
"the science and engineering of making intelligent machines.”
After the first definition, attempts made in this field has not been much successful because of many reasons. But in recent years availability of huge data sets and advanced computer infrastructure has enabled great leap in this field. Recent advancements in machine learning and Machine Vision/Image Recognition have contributed to development of autonomous machines which can learn and replicate few actions like humans. Though these advancements has not yet lead us to the final pit of human intelligence. We should also take into account that we are trying to replicate the behaviours of humans in the period where complete behaviours of human has not yet been studied. It is going to be a long way journey and which in turn is going to open lot of opportunities to explore. At any point of time of this journey of developing human-like intelligence there will be lot more things to improvise and advance.
4th Industrial Revolution:
Every industrial revolution was led by the invention of a breakthrough technology that could create a huge opportunity in the market. Invention of Steam Engine which led to First, Invention of Electricity and mass steel production plants led to Second, Invention of computers and automation machines led to the third. We are in the final stage of 3rd Industrial revolution and entering into the stage of fourth. What could be possible principle and invention that could put us into the Fourth? Any invention which can enable machines the principles of autonomous decision and interoperability without any centralised control will pave way for the Fourth industrial revolution. That’s exactly the purpose of Artificial Intelligence. Through AI we are trying to create machines which could co-operate and communicate among themselves and should also be able to take decisions without any centralised authority. It is like a whole car production hub which can design, produce and test the car by itself!
A Look back in India:
We are in the early stage of fourth industrial revolution. To see how the Fourth Industrial revolution with the breakthrough in the field of AI will have impact in India, we need to look back the early stages of other three Industrial revolution.
First Industrial Revolution:
1st industrial revolution began during the last quarter of 18th century by the the invention of steam engines. where India has been victim of this revolution due to the colonial rule by British Government. India had negative impact on it’s economy.
Second Industrial revolution:
The Second Industrial revolution started during 1870s and lasted till the WW-I. Second revolution was led by the breakthrough of Mass Steel production plants and Invention of Electricity. In India one of the first person to realise the importance of second industrial revolution at early stage was Jamsetji Tata. It all started with the lecture by philosopher Thomas Carlyle in Manchester that inspired JN Tata to establish India’s first steel plant. “The nation which gains control of iron soon acquires the control of gold,” Carlyle had said. Understanding the importance of the new inventions that led second revolution. Jamsetji Tata brought down American geologists and engineers to set up Tata Iron and Steel Company or TISCO. Later in 1911 the company was finally established by Dorab Tata. In 1915, they also established hydroelectric power generation in Bombay. Tata steels now employs 74,000 employees as of 2017. Total assets of Tata steels — ₹163,250 crore (US$25 billion). Realisation of importance of the second industrialisation led Jamsetji Tata to the development of one of the largest industry in India.
Third Industrial Revolution:
The Third Industrial revolution was started by the consecutive advancement in the field of digital and automation machines. Beginning 1970, the impact of third Industrial revolution is mind boggling. This time TATA is again one of first to put its foot in to this gold digging journey. They established Tata Consultancy services during 1968. Initially planned to support the hardware developments to their sister companies and to do few outsourcings. Then during 1980 realizing the importance of inventions which led to third Industrial revolution TCS launched it’s dedicated software research and development centre. Now TCS is international brand in software development outsourcing. It holds total assets of $16.24 billion (2017) with 300,00 employees worldwide.
Unlike other two industrial revolution Digital revolution appreciated ideas more than investment. Which helped people with lower investment to setup their own industry focusing on their ideas rather than worrying about the huge investments. One such person without a huge money investment like TATA, realised the importance of Digital revolution and invested his ideas into this field. Mr Narayana Murthy with an investment of ₹10,000 kick started “Infosys Technologies Private Limited”. Infosys now holds total assets of $12.854 billion with 200,000 employees and has emerged now as one of top IT outsourcing hub. There are many other companies who took the path of digital revolution have achieved great heights later like HCL, Satyam but they were unable reach the heights of first two.
It really matters to invest at right time and with right ideas.
AI — How is it today in India?
We are in the early stage of 4th industrial revolution led by AI.
Experts believe adoption of AI in developing countries will be much faster than in developed nations, as the magnitude of change it will bring will be far larger.
Though India is a leader in digital revolution the steps taken towards adopting the AI is much slower compared to the other developing nations like China, South Korea. In recent years, the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) have largely carried out publicly funded research in artificial intelligence. The most comprehensive insight into the state of AI research in India comes from a 2012 paper for AI Magazine by Deepak Khemani, a professor of computer science at IIT Madras. According to Khemani, AI research in India has been limited to a handful of passionate researchers and thus has significantly lagged behind the United States and Europe.
Privately funded research in AI in India is relatively novel in comparison. Infosys, for example, recently announced its decision to support AI research efforts at the Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology, Delhi, apart from its commitment to open-source AI research efforts led by SpaceX founder and Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk (and others) under the OpenAI Project. With Arya.ai and just a handful of other Indian AI start-ups beginning to make their mark domestically.
India has yet to see its private sector make a significant global impact in AI.
